Ilan Stavans (born Ilan Stavchansky on April 7, 1961) is a Mexican-American author and academic. He writes and speaks on American, Hispanic, and Jewish cultures. He is the author of Quixote (2015) and a contributor to the Norton Anthology of Latino Literature (2010). Life Ilan Stavans was born in Mexico in 1961 to a middle-class Jewish family; his father's ancestors had immigrated from the Russian Pale of Settlement. His parents were born in Mexico City. His father, Abraham Stavans, had become a Mexican telenovela actor. His mother, Ofelia Stavans, taught theater. After living in Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East, Stavans immigrated to the United States in 1985. He earned a master's degree from the Jewish Theological Seminary and a Doctorate in Letters from Columbia University. He married Alison, and they had two sons, Joshua and Isaiah. Since 1993 he has been on the faculty at Amherst College, where he is the Lewis-Sebring Professor of Humanities and Latin American and Latino Culture. He is on the editorial board of the literary magazine The Common. He has taught at various other institutions, including Columbia University. He was the host of the syndicated PBS show Conversations with Ilan Stavans, which ran from 2001 to 2006. Books Stavans's work is includes both scholarly monographs such as The Hispanic Condition (1995), and comic strips, as in his graphic book Latino USA: A Cartoon History (with Lalo Alcaraz) (2000). Stavans has edited anthologies, including The Oxford Book of Jewish Stories (1998). A selection of his work appeared in 2000 under the title The Essential Ilan Stavans. In 2004, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Pablo Neruda's birth, Stavans edited the 1,000-page-long The Poetry of Pablo Neruda. The same year he edited the 3-volume set of Isaac Bashevis Singer: Collected Stories for the Library of America. His autobiography is entitled On Borrowed Words: A Memoir of Language (2001). He is best known for his investigations of language and culture. His love for lexicography is evident in his memoir, Dictionary Days: A Defining Passion (2005). He has written influential essays on the Mexican comedian, Mario Moreno ("Cantinflas"); the lampooner José Guadalupe Posada, the Chicano leader César Chávez, and the Tejana singer Selena. He wrote a book about the board game Lotería! (with Teresa Villegas), which includes his own poems. Stavans was featured in one of the Smithsonian Q&A books. Honors and awards In 1997,